System and user interface supporting concurrent application initiation and interoperability

ABSTRACT

A system and associated communication protocol enables Internet compatible applications to be integrated into any process involving concurrent operation of applications. A system employed by a first application for supporting concurrent operation of a plurality of network compatible applications involves an entitlement processor for authorizing user access to the first application in response to validation of user identification information. The system also involves a communication processor for communicating a session initiation request to a managing application to initiate generation of a session identifier particular to a user initiated session and for use by a plurality of concurrently operating applications to uniquely identify the user initiated session in response to validation of user identification information. The managing application also initiates generation of an encryption key particular to a user initiated session for common use by a plurality of concurrently operating applications in encrypting data associated with a personal record.

This is a non-provisional application of provisional application Ser.No. 60/261,148 by B. Royer filed Jan. 12, 2001.

This application is concurrently filed together with commonly ownedrelated applications, Ser. No. 09/817,322 filed 26 Mar. 2001, Ser. No.09/817,320 filed 26 Mar. 2001, Ser. No. 09/817,323 filed 26 Mar. 2001,Ser. No. 09/817,324 filed 26 Mar. 2001 and Ser. No. 09/817,321 filed 26Mar. 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The management of information for medical purposes for use byphysicians, hospital staff and other workers in the health care fieldposes a number of challenges. The information required by a physician,to optimize health care, is both varied in nature and in the sourcesfrom which it must be derived. A physician may typically need to haveaccess to patient medical records, diagnostic images, diagnostic anddietary information systems, an appointment schedule, patient testresults, medical literature, a prescription and drug interactionmanagement system, insurance and billing information as well as a staffmanagement system, for example. Access to such information and relatedservices necessitate the use of a system including a communicationplatform supporting Internet operation and possibly local intra-netoperation. Further, it is desirable that such a system for providingaccess to such an array of comprehensive information sources and relatedservices should also provide a user interface that is suitable for useby a layman in the field and should not require extensive operatortraining.

There are a number of difficulties in providing such a comprehensivesystem. Specifically, it is necessary that such a system should supportmultiple different concurrent Internet based applications with thecapability of conveying information between individual applications.These difficulties are compounded by the fact that individualapplications may employ a unique data format or other operationalfeature limiting concurrent operation and interoperability. A systemaccording to invention principles addresses these difficulties andderivative problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and associated communication protocol enables network(including Internet) compatible applications to be integrated into anyprocess involving concurrent operation of applications. It does this byspecifying the rules for conveying URL data and other data betweenapplications and by employing a managing application and services tofacilitate application session initiation and to provide common,essential session properties and by a variety of other mechanisms. Asystem employed by a first application for supporting concurrentoperation of a plurality of network compatible applications involves anentitlement processor for authorizing user access to the firstapplication in response to validation of user identificationinformation. The system also involves a communication processor forcommunicating a session initiation request to a managing application toinitiate generation of a session identifier particular to a userinitiated session and for use by a plurality of concurrently operatingapplications to uniquely identify the user initiated session in responseto validation of user identification information.

In another feature of the invention the managing application initiatesgeneration of an encryption key particular to a user initiated sessionfor common use by a plurality of concurrently operating applications inencrypting data associated with a personal record.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a web browser window including multiple links to aplurality of medical related applications, according to inventionprinciples.

FIG. 2 is a system command flow diagram showing system protocoloperation involving a managing application (GSM—Global Session Manager)two applications and a web browser, according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a common logon menu used for multiple applications,according to invention principles.

FIG. 4 shows command interaction between multiple concurrently operatingapplications, according to invention principles.

FIG. 5 shows the bidirectional command and response data communicatedbetween an application and the managing application for initiating asession of user operation, according to invention principles.

FIG. 6 shows the bidirectional command and response data communicatedbetween an application and the managing application for terminating asession of user operation, according to invention principles.

FIG. 7 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication for informing the managing application of a valid userid andassociated authentication database, according to invention principles.

FIG. 8 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to retrieve a valid userid for a particular authenticationdatabase from the managing application, according to inventionprinciples.

FIG. 9 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication for retrieving session context data from the managingapplication, according to invention principles.

FIG. 10 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to provide the managing application with a URL to beaccessed upon an event terminating the current user operation session,according to invention principles.

FIG. 11 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to inform the managing application of activity, according toinvention principles.

FIG. 12 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to retrieve its timeout status data held by the managingapplication, according to invention principles.

FIG. 13 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to have a URL data string encrypted by the managingapplication, according to invention principles.

FIG. 14 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to have a URL data string decrypted by the managingapplication, according to invention principles.

FIG. 15 shows the bidirectional command and response data used by anapplication to have a string hashed by the managing application,according to invention principles.

FIG. 16 is a system hierarchical protocol layer diagram including aninteroperability protocol, according to the invention principles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A system and associated protocol enables Internet compatibleapplications comprising any grouping of software to be integrated into aworkflow capable of supporting a browser. Workflow, as used in thisdocument, refers to a task sequence typically involving initiation,intermediate command operation and termination of Internet compatibleapplications via a displayed user interface occurring between a userlogon and a user logoff command. The system involves a centralizedsession manager and protocol for passing URL data between applicationsand other functions. These include providing services to coordinate userinactivity timeouts and provide common, essential session properties forfacilitating concurrent application operation for providing access to anarray of comprehensive (medical and other) information sources andrelated services. Internet compatible applications employing this systemmay be dynamically re-organized to implement different workflows or tasksequences involving different operational constraints and limitations.The system advantageously facilitates reuse and interoperability of webbased applications in multiple different sequences and concurrentoperation configurations.

The system addresses a variety of problems involved in supportingconcurrent operation of Internet compatible applications for accessingmultiple information sources and related services for medical and otherpurposes. As such, the system addresses the problems involved inmaintaining concurrent operation of applications in a frameworkproviding a common web browser-like user interface. The systemspecifically addresses problems involved in managing differentinactivity timeout periods and in facilitating user initiation (e.g.,logon), operation and termination (e.g., logoff) of multiple Internetapplications and in securely passing URL, patient (and user)identification and other information between applications. A managingapplication is employed to coordinate user operation sessions.Specifically the managing application coordinates inactivity timeoutoperation and maintains and conveys properties between concurrentapplications in order to create a smooth user operation session. Forthis purpose, the managing application also coordinates the use of asingle logon screen common to multiple concurrent applications.

The principles of the invention may be applied to any system involvingconcurrent operation of different software applications. Further,although the disclosed system is described in the context ofcommunicating and processing web page data and associated URLs(Universal Resource Locators), this is exemplary only. The system mayprocess any form of data that may be communicated via Internet Protocol(IP) or HyperText Transmission Protocol (HTTP) from an Internet sourceand includes any form of packetized data including streamed video oraudio data, telephone messages, computer programs, Emails or othercommunications, for example.

FIG. 1 shows a web browser composite window 10 including multiple linksto a plurality of medically related applications. The web browserprovides typical command toolbars 43 and 44 as well as an applicationinitiation bar (items 12–23). The web browser interface permits a userto initiate multiple concurrent applications including, for example, anapplication providing an inpatient census window (e.g. for patients 25and 27) together with a laboratory test results application providing aresults notification window including displayed items 29, 31 and 33.Other concurrent applications permit access to health care informationand resources such as via reference link 37 and news item link 34.

FIG. 2 is a system command flow diagram showing system protocoloperation involving a managing application 250 (GSM—Global SessionManager), two applications 200 and 230 (App1 and App2) and a web browser10 (e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 1). The system protocolemployed by manager 250 supports coherent harmonized and concurrentoperation of multiple applications (e.g., applications 200 and 230) inimplementing a task sequence or workflow. Manager 250 is advantageouslyused by the applications 200 and 230 to reference global data that isessential to a workflow. Such global data includes, for example, useridentification information, a shared key used for the encryption of URLdata, and a common URL to be used for handling a logoff and logonfunction. The system protocol involves applications 200 and 230intermittently notifying manager 250 of activity to prevent aninactivity timeout while a user is active in another concurrentapplication.

Manager 250 employs a system protocol for passing session contextinformation to applications 200 and 230 via URL query or form data. Thesession context information comprises a session identifier, a hashvalue, and application specific data. The session identifier is used byapplications 200 and 230 to identify a user initiated session incommunicating with manager 250. The hash value is used by applications200 and 230 to validate that a received URL has not been corrupted,intentionally or otherwise. The application data portion of the sessioncontext information may or may not be encrypted as determined by theapplication communicating the URL. The application specific data istailored to meet the intended function of a target application. Theprotocol employed by manager 250 supports applications that use thegenerated session context information and do not alter it. Inalternative embodiments, applications 200 and 230 may employ internalmanagers using other protocols to support a global context concept,either as an alternative to manager 250, or in addition to manager 250.Such other protocols comprise, for example, HL7 (Health Level Seven)protocol or CCOW (Clinical Context Object Workgroup V1.2 Ratified May2000) protocol. The described system supports use of alternativeprotocols as well as the communication of data between applications,other than just session context information.

Manager 250 maintains security by operating in a secure environment thatprevents unauthorized access to the manager application itself. Securityis also provided by ensuring applications 200 and 230 (that communicatewith manager 250) also operate in a secure environment. Manager 250 alsomaintains security by detecting and ignoring received URLs that havebeen intentionally or otherwise corrupted and by preventing replay anddisplay of received URLs.

FIG. 4 shows command interaction between concurrently operatingapplications 200 and 230, web browser 235 and manager 250 using a systeminteroperability protocol in accordance with invention principles. FIG.4 shows a simplified version of the command interaction of FIG. 2. In anexemplary user operation session, parent application 200 starts asession and notifies manager 250 of activity (1). Subsequently, parentapplication 200 references a child application 230 (2). A childapplication typically provide web pages to other applications.Specifically, child application 230 notifies manager 250 of activity (3)and returns a web page 235 to parent application 200 (4). Eventually,parent application 200 terminates the session via a command to manager250 (5). The application that establishes a session with manager 250 issaid to be the parent application. All additional applications thatparticipate in that session are referred to as child applications. Thecollection of the parent and all child applications together are said tobe the participants. Manager 250 provides centralized services to theparent and child applications in order to coordinate them. A parentapplication creates a session after the user is authenticated and beforea child application is referenced. A parent application may delayestablishing a session until a specific event, e.g., until the parentdownloads (to a browser) a web page containing links to childapplications. Typically, a session is ended when the user signs off orwhen the user times out due to inactivity.

Returning to FIG. 2, a command 220 to initiate parent application 200and to authenticate user identification information (password and username entered via browser command 203) is passed via browser 10 to parentapplication 200. Parent application 200 authenticates the received userinformation using either an internal or external database ofauthentication information for verification. Upon successfulauthentication, parent 200 communicates startsession 222 data (as shownin FIG. 5) to manager 250 to establish a new session. The startsessioncommand is invoked prior to generating links to another application.FIG. 5 shows the startsession bidirectional command and response datacommunicated between parent application 200 and manager 250 forinitiating a session of user operation. Parent 200 determines the FIG. 5properties comprising authserver 500, language 503, logoffurl 505,logoffurltarget 507, timeout 513 and userid 517. In response, manager250 returns properties (in command 224 of FIG. 2) to parent 200comprising, a unique session identifier 520 to be used when referencingchild application URLs and manager 250, session key 530 (used to encryptand decrypt URL data) and SMResult 525 indicating command status. Afailure indication by SMResult 525 indicates that the service isunavailable possibly due to a temporary condition (e.g. networkproblems) or to a permanent condition (e.g. a configuration error). Noneof the FIG. 5 properties are mandatory. In an alternative embodiment,manager 250 returns session identifier 520 in encrypted form fordecryption and use by application 200 using a predetermined encryptionkey available to applications including applications 200 and 230 andmanager 250.

Through the startsession command, parent 200 sets static sessionproperties that are to be used by all participants of the session. This,in affect, means that parent application 200 sets the tone and controlof the user experience. For example, the parent determines thelogon/logoff web page to be used and how the user is known to theparticipants as well as the user inactivity limits. It is theresponsibility of parent application 200 to ensure that properauthentication has been carried out before it creates a session.

In the command interaction diagram of FIG. 2, parent application 200registers a URL with manager 250 using a register callback command(indicated as item 226 in FIG. 2 and detailed in FIG. 10). Specifically,parent 200 provides manager 250 with a callback URL (Universal ResourceLocator 450 in FIG. 10) defining a web page to be accessed upon an eventterminating the current user operation session. The callback URL isprovided to manager 250 together with session identifier 449 andcallback type indicator 453 (FIG. 10). The register callback command isalso employed by manager 250 to update an activity status time indicatorused to monitor parent application 200 activity status. In response tothe register callback command, manager 250 returns a command statusindicator (SMResult 445 of FIG. 10 indicated by item 226 of FIG. 2) toparent 200. Indicator 445 indicates status such as command success,failure, time out or a not found condition. A failure result indicatesthat the service is unavailable possibly due to a temporary condition(e.g. network problems) or to a permanent condition (e.g. aconfiguration error). A time out condition indicates that the sessionhas timed out and parent application 200 redirects browser 10 to the URLfound in the logoffurl property targeted to the frame found in thelogoffurltarget property (items 505 and 507 of FIG. 5). A not foundcondition indicates that manager 250 has no record of the requestedsession ID. In response, parent application 200 displays a messageindicating that the session is no longer active and that the user shouldnavigate to the logon screen to restart.

In the command interaction diagram of FIG. 2, parent application 200, incommand 229, returns a web page to browser application 10 followingregister callback command (226). The web page includes embedded URLlinks to other (child) applications including a URL link to (child)application 230. The embedded URL links are processed, to include withinthe URL data itself, the session identifier and additional contextinformation if required (e.g., a patient identifier). Application 230uses the session identifier in communicating with managing application250 in order to obtain information about the session for facilitatinguser operation and task workflow. Manager 250 identifies anauthenticated user of child application 230 from previously storedidentification data eliminating the need for a user to logon again toaccess child application 230. This constitutes a silent logon process. Achild application providing access to other child applications generatesURL links (to the other child applications) incorporating the sessionidentifier and additional context information as required. A parent orchild application providing access to its own web pages may optionallypass the session identifier or context via a URL. An application createsa session via a startsession command when, for example, it create a URLreference to a different application and a session identifier has notyet been established. If a session identifier has already beenestablished and provided to the application, it is used and propagatedwhen referencing other applications.

The maintenance of security is an important consideration in processingthe embedded URL links for incorporation in the web page returned tobrowser 10 in command 229 of FIG. 2. Also, different security concernsare involved in processing URL links to include the session identifierand additional context information. One concern is the prevention ofunauthorized access to manager 250. Other concerns include theprevention of URL replay once a session has ended and provision ofprotection against attacks involving corruption of URL data.

The prevention of unauthorized access to manager 250 is facilitated byensuring that applications 200 and 230 that access manager 250 operatein a protected and trusted environment. This is attained by operatingthe system on proprietary networks (e.g. Wide Area Networks—WANs orLocal Area Networks—LANs) and intra-nets. Applications that are accessedthrough public networks such as the Internet are designed so thatcomponents accessing manager 250 operate in a trusted environment.Additional levels of security are attainable by employing additionalprotocol layers, e.g., involving digitally signed software, usercertificates, or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer V3.0) protocol of November1996 by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), etc.

The prevention of URL replay and protection against URL corruption(deliberate or otherwise) is advantageously achieved by the use ofstrong encryption, as well as limited duration sessions and randomlygenerated shared encryption keys. These security measures ensure thatURL query or form data is unaltered and that a link generated by aparticipant application (e.g., applications 200 and 230) is notredirected. The security measures also ensure that a valid URL is notreplayed after a session has ended and that a session identifier isdifficult for an unauthorized party to determine.

The creation of a session, e.g., via startsession command 226 of FIG. 2,initiates the generation of an encryption key (530 of FIG. 5) for thatsession by manager 250 that is returned to application 200 by command224 of FIG. 2. This key is generated on a random basis and is shared forthe duration of that session with those applications that areparticipants of the session (applications 200 and 230 in the example ofFIG. 2). The key is used by an encryption algorithm employed byapplication 200 to encrypt the query or form data portions of agenerated URL link (e.g. a URL link to child application 230) that isincorporated in a web page provided by command 229 for display usingbrowser 10. The encryption method is designed so that if any of theencrypted string is changed, it prevents the string from beingsuccessfully decrypted. In addition, manager 250 uses a unique sessionidentifier (SID—item 520 of FIG. 5) for each new session. This procedureprotects against the corruption and replay of a URL (once the sessionhas ended) and prevents the generation of valid URL data from anywherebut participant applications.

In addition, application 200 ensures that a URL link (e.g. a URL link tochild application 230) embedded in a web page provided for display usingbrowser 10 is not redirected. For this purpose, application 200generates a hash value from the domain, path, program, and program dataportion of the URL. Application 200 (as the sending application)generates a hash value from the fully qualified URL link. Specifically,application 200 generates the hash value from the URL data either lyingbetween the “http://” and the question mark “?” or from the data lyingbetween the “http://” and the pound/number sign “#”—whichever comesfirst. The data used to create the hash value is the fully qualified URLeven if relative addressing is used in the actual reference (e.g. in theHREF or ACTION attributes). In addition, the string to be hashed isadvantageously converted to lower case before being hashed. This is donesince it is recognized by the inventors that some web servers andbrowsers may not preserve case or may be sensitive to case. Further, thehash algorithm used in both the sending application 200 and receivingapplication 230 in this described embodiment is the RSA MD5 128 bithashing algorithm. The RSA MD5 algorithm is the Rivest Shamir Adlemanpublic key cryptosystem used with MD5 hash function and is described inpublications available on the Internet. However, this is exemplary onlyand other algorithms or other mechanisms performing a function similarto that of the hashing function may also be employed. The created hashvalue is conveyed as part of the embedded URL link referencing childapplication 230 in the web page data provided by application 200 tobrowser 10.

In another embodiment, application 200 does not create the hash valueitself but uses manager 250 to create the hashed value. Specifically,application 200 communicates with manager 250 using the bidirectionalcommand and response data of FIG. 15 to have a string hashed.Application 200 sends the string to be hashed 783 (FIG. 15) to manager250 which responds with the hashed value 787 and the status of thiscommand (SMResult 789) indicating command success or failure.

Upon user selection of the embedded URL link via browser 10, the URLdata and hash value are passed to application 230 via command 234. Auser selects the embedded URL link (browser command 207) on browser 10to view a patient laboratory results, for example. Application 230decrypts the received hash value for comparison with a correspondinghash value independently generated from corresponding URL data retrievedfrom a web server. The corresponding URL data indicates the true URLlink data and is therefore usable for verification. Application 230independently generates a hash value from corresponding URL datacomprising a concatenation of the following HTTP server-side attributes(or equivalents). For ASP applications (ASP means Active Server Page—aMicrosoft proprietary style of processing web requests) the SERVER_NAMEand SCRIPT_NAME are used. For non-ASP applications, e.g. for CGI (CommonGateway Interface) compatible applications the SERVER_NAME, SCRIPT_NAME,and PATH_INFO are used. The independently generated hash value and thehash value received by application 230 from application 200 via browser10 are compared and if they are not equal, the request to initiateapplication 230 is rejected.

Applications are vulnerable to the corruption of URL data and thecontext information conveyed within the URL data. The URL data conveyedfrom application 200 to application 230 includes context informationcomprising a session identifier and optionally a user or patientidentifier. This URL data is potentially vulnerable to corruption tocause URL replay or redirection of an application to a substituteaddress or to gain access to application functions and parameters forunauthorized purposes. In order to protect against such corruption andto ensure that the entity being accessed is the one originally targeted,portions of the URL data conveyed between applications areadvantageously encrypted.

Application 200 processes a URL for incorporation within web page datafor communication to browser 10 and for communication to application 230by concatenating the URL fields into one string prior to encryptionusing a key previously received from manager 250. The processed URL dataincludes a session identifier and encrypted data. A processed URLincludes a field labeled as a GSM data field. The format of the field isas follows:

GSM=x:y

Where:

GSM—is the key name of the “key=value” pair

x—is the manager 250 session identifier

:—is the field separator

y—is the encrypted string

The session identifier (x) is the session identifier (item 520 of FIG.5) provided by manager 250 in the startsession command response 224(FIG. 2). In its unencrypted form, the encrypted string (y) is itselfmade up of “key=value” pairs. A URL hash value (identified in a URL bythe label GSH) is incorporated in a processed URL and is generated byhashing on the addressable portion of a fully qualified URL. Theaddressable portion of the URL is hashed to compress and reduce thequantity of data to be processed. Other x:y data field pairs may beincluded to accommodate requirements of particular applications andother application data may also be conveyed with a URL. However thisother data is not encrypted within the GSM data field. Application datathat is to be encrypted with the encryption key from manager 250 isplaced into the encrypted portion of the GSM data field. The GSM datafield is compatible with the Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) syntaxauthored by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in Request forComment document RFC 2396. The RFC documents are available via theInternet and are prepared by Internet standards working groups.

The URL processing performed by application 200 (and performed by otherapplications passing context data) is illustrated below.

An exemplary URL string that is to be processed is,

-   -   www.smed.com/altoona/prd/results.exe/1?GSM=16253384937&GSH=24017        &Pid=1772693&Frgclr=blue        The data field GSM is the session identifier provided by manager        250. The data field GSH is the hash value derived by application        200. The derived hash value is advantageously encrypted by        application 200 prior to its communication within processed URL        data to other applications (e.g. application 230). Additionally,        in this example application 200 encrypts a patient identifier        (Pid) for communication to application 230. The system protocol        employed by manager 250 (and applications 200 and 230)        determines that data to be encrypted is collated into an        individual MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) format        data field for encryption into one string. Therefore, as an        example, the string    -   GSH=24017&Pid=1772693        is encrypted into the string    -   16sfdjwhejeyw7rh3hekw

Application 200 encrypts the string using a two-key triple DES (DataEncryption Standard) algorithm in cipher block chaining mode employing a64 bit block and an effective 112 bit key length. The resulting ciphertext complies with the URL query data encoding format and represents asingle value of a “key=value” pair. Although in this embodimentapplication 200 performs the encryption, in an alternative embodimentapplication 200 (or a child application) instructs manager 250 toperform the encryption. For this purpose, application 200 uses thebidirectional command and response data of FIG. 13 to have a URL datastring encrypted into a MIME formatted string by manager 250.

In the embodiment in which the string is encrypted by manager 250,application 200 sends the string to be encrypted cleartext 653 togetherwith the encryption key to be used, sessionkey 656 (FIG. 13), to manager250. Manager 250 encrypts string 653 using key 656 and responds toapplication 200 with the encrypted string ciphertext 659 and commandstatus indicator SMResult 664. SMResult 664 indicates command success orfailure in a similar fashion to that previously described in connectionwith command 226, for example.

The session identifier and the encrypted text are concatenated into onefield (per the manager 250 protocol) and the resulting processed URLdata is:

-   -   www.smed.com/altoona/prd/results.exe/1?GSM=16253384937:16sfdjwhejey        w7rh3hekw&Frgclr=blue

Application 230 decrypts the encrypted portion of the processed URL datato provide the hash value for use in validating that application 230 isthe intended recipient of the URL request. Application 230 compares thehash value received in the URL data with a corresponding hash valueindependently generated from corresponding URL data retrieved from a webserver. If the two hash values do not match, the addressable portion ofthe URL has been altered and the request is rejected. In addition,application 230 rejects received URL data that does not contain at leastan encrypted GSH portion. In other embodiments the context data (sessionidentifier and patient identifier) may not be encrypted or may beconveyed within URL data in both encrypted and non-encrypted form. Inthe latter case, an application automatically parses received URL datato identify encrypted data elements and uses the encrypted data elementsin preference to corresponding non-encrypted versions of the dataelements. Further, although this example shows context and security databeing passed as URL query data, this is exemplary only. The context andsecurity (and other) data may be passed in another format, for example,the “GSM=value” data may be conveyed as form data via a Form and POSTmethod. The Form and POST method is known in the art. Further, the URLprocessing functions described herein may also be employed by a browserapplication or a managing application in other embodiments.

Although in this embodiment application 230 decrypts the encryptedportion of the processed URL data to provide the hash value, in analternative embodiment application 230 (or another parent or childapplication) instructs manager 250 to perform the decryption. For thispurpose, application 230 uses the bidirectional command and responsedata of FIG. 14 to have an encrypted URL (MIME formatted) data stringdecrypted by manager 250. For this purpose, application 230 sends thestring to be decrypted ciphertext 751 together with the encryption keyto be used, sessionkey 753 (FIG. 14), to manager 250. Manager 250decrypts encrypted string 751 using key 753 and responds to application230 with the decrypted string cleartext 755 and command status indicatorSMResult 757. SMResult 757 indicates command success or failure in asimilar fashion to that previously described in connection with command226, for example.

Upon successful validation of the received hash value following command234 (FIG. 2) to initiate application 230, application 230 communicateswith manager 250 via command 233 to obtain session context information.Specifically, application 230 employs the bidirectional command andresponse data of FIG. 9 to retrieve session context data from manager250. Application 230 sends session identifier 900 (FIG. 9) to manager250 in command 233. Manager 250 responds in command 237 with FIG. 9properties comprising authserver 903, language 907, logoffurl 911,logoffurltarget 913, timeout 915 and userid 917, session key 921 andSMResult 923. These properties have a similar function as thecorresponding properties previously described in connection with FIG. 5.Further, manager 250 (in step 280 of FIG. 2) updates a session activitytime stamp maintained for application 230 and used to monitorapplication 230 activity in response to successful execution of commands233 and 237 to retrieve session context information.

SMResult 923 is a status indicator that indicates command success,failure, time out or a not found condition. A failure result indicatesthat the service is unavailable possibly due to a temporary condition(e.g. network problems) or to a permanent condition (e.g. aconfiguration error). A time out condition indicates that the sessionhas timed out resulting in manager 250 returning to application 230 thelogoffurl property targeted to the frame found in the logoffurltargetproperty (items 911 and 913 of FIG. 9). In this condition the otherproperty values are not valued and application 230 redirects browser 10to the URL found in the logoffurl property targeted to the frame foundin the logoffurltarget property. A not found condition indicates thatmanager 250 has no record of the requested session identifier. Inresponse, application 230 displays a message indicating that the sessionis no longer active and that the user should navigate to the logonscreen to restart.

Application 230, in command 239, returns a web page including patientlaboratory results (previously requested via browser command 207) fordisplay via browser application 10. The laboratory results web pageincorporates an embedded link to view a web page provided by the sameapplication (application 230) displaying a list of orders for laboratorytests. Therefore, the user selection of the embedded link to viewlaboratory test orders in browser command 211 represents anintra-application command request. Further, because the link to the testresults page is an intra-application link there is no requirement forthis particular embedded link to be processed in the manner previouslydescribed to incorporate the session identifier and other contextinformation. Application 230 may employ its own mechanism formaintaining state between intra-application URL link selection and theprovision of associated web pages. Alternatively, application 230 mayoptionally process the embedded intra-application URL link, in themanner previously described, in order to convey session identificationand other context information between the different intra-applicationweb page access states.

Application 230, in command 247, notifies manager 250 of activity usingthe bidirectional command and response data of FIG. 11 and in response(in step 283 of FIG. 2) manager 250 updates an inactivity timing statusindicator maintained for application 230. Command 247 in FIG. 2 isrepresentative only and in practice notification commands areadvantageously repeated until the session is ended in order to preventan application timing out due to inactivity. In other embodimentsapplication 230 may use different schemes for notification. However, itis the responsibility of application 230 (or other participantapplications including parent application 200) to notify manager 250 ofactivity in such a manner as to keep a session from timing out providedthat the application is active. Application 230 sends session identifier460 (FIG. 11) to manager 250 in command 247. Manager 250 responds incommand 247 with a command status indicator SMResult 463 indicatingsuccess, failure, not found or time-out in a similar fashion to thatpreviously described in connection with command 237, for example.

Application 230 may perform notifications using the command of FIG. 11when it is called upon (e.g. when a web page is provided) or application230 may notify manager 250 of activity using batched notificationcommands. Such a batched notification may be advantageously used in thecase of a PC application that monitors key and mouse movements andperiodically notifies manager 250 with a single notification, forexample. The command of FIG. 11 is used by either a parent applicationor a child application in order to update activity status and, inresponse, manager 250 records the time at which it was notified. Inaddition, other commands may be used to notify manager 250 of activity.Specifically in this embodiment the commands depicted in FIGS. 9 and 10(corresponding to commands 233 and 226 of FIG. 2 respectively) are usedto notify manager 250 of activity.

In the described system, manager 250 acts as a central coordinator formonitoring activity of participant applications by requiring thatparticipant applications notify manager 250 of activity. Participantapplications may also query manager 250 in order to determine if asession is still active. This coordination and management functionadvantageously addresses problems involved in managing disparateinactivity time-out limits when different applications are combined intoa single user task sequence and workflow. For example, such a problemarises if a user works in one application for a period of sufficientduration to trigger a time-out in another concurrent application. Thissituation leads to a loss of context and a confusing workflow.

Manager 250 is essentially passive in this embodiment and does notautomatically generate a timeout event. Manager 250 maintains a timestamp for a session indicating when the session last had activityreported and initiates termination of a session if a session having anexpired time stamp is referenced (e.g., via command 233) or if a sessiontermination command is received. Upon termination of a session, manager250 informs those participant applications of the termination that havepreviously requested a notification of session termination. In otherembodiments, manager 250 may be configured to automatically generate atimeout event upon one or more predetermined conditions or combinationof conditions.

In addition, an application (e.g. applications 200 or 230) uses thebidirectional command and response data format of FIG. 12 to retrieveits timeout status data maintained by manager 250. An application sendssession identifier 573 (FIG. 12) to manager 250 and manager 250 respondswith activityinterval 577, timeout indicator 583 and SMResult 589. Theactivityinterval 577 indicates the number of seconds since the lastactivity update, timeout indicator 583 identifies the time-out limit inseconds and status indicator SMResult 589 indicates command status.SMResult 589 indicates success, failure, not found or time-out in asimilar fashion to that previously described in connection with command237, for example.

Application 230, in command 249, returns a web page including laboratorytest orders (previously requested via browser command 211) for displayvia browser application 10. Subsequently, the user elects to logoff viabrowser command 213 and in response browser 10 issues a logoff command253 to application 230. Application 230, in command 255, instructsmanager 250 that the session of user operation is to be terminated usingthe bidirectional command and response data of FIG. 6. Specifically,application 230 sends session identifier 600 (FIG. 6) to manager 250 incommand 255 and in response (in step 285 of FIG. 2), manager 250 updatesstatus indicators it maintains to reflect that session 600 isterminated. Manager 250 also responds to application 200 and toapplication 230 in command 257 with a command status indicator SMResult603 identifying that the session is terminated and indicating status ofthe session termination command request. Specifically, SMResult 603indicates success, failure, not found or time-out in a similar fashionto that previously described in connection with command 237, forexample. However, applications receiving SMResult 603 assume the sessionis terminated irrespective of the nominal SMResult 603 status.

Upon receipt of SMResult 603 from manager 250, application 230 incommand 259 redirects browser 10 (command 215) to access a logon webpage available via the logoffurl property targeted to the frame found inthe logoffurltarget property previously obtained from manager 250 incommand 237. Specifically, browser 10 accesses a logon page at thelogoffurl provided by parent application 200 via command 263 and thislogon page is returned to browser 10 in command 273.

Manager 250 may also be instructed to terminate a session underconditions other than in response to a user initiated logoff command.Such conditions occur, for example, when (a) an inactivity time outlimit is exceeded and (b) an application becomes non-responsive tomanager 250 initiated polling. Such polling is initiated by manager 250periodically to clean up a session operation and to eliminatenon-responsive applications that have avoided inactivity time outthrough a software error or other occurrence.

FIG. 3 shows a common logon menu web page 310, supporting entry ofusername 313 and password 315, and enabling a single logon to provideaccess to multiple applications facilitating smooth workflow operationfor a user. This is achieved by providing a logon menu web page as acommon starting place to which a user is directed upon initial logon orupon logoff from a session of activity or upon a termination conditionsuch as an error condition or upon time-out due to inactivity. For thispurpose, manager 250 maintains a logoffurl property (e.g. item 505 ofFIG. 5) provided by a parent application (e.g. application 200) that isused by participant applications to get back to a common starting webpage. Upon a participant application receiving a time-out status frommanager 250 or when manager 250 explicitly ends a session, a browser(e.g., browser 10 of FIG. 2) is redirected to the logon page at the URLspecified in the logoffurl property maintained by manager 250.

A number of problems involved in providing a common logon web page areadvantageously recognized. Specifically, problems are involved inenabling a user to logon once to access different applications withdifferent user identifiers and different authentication systems. Theseproblems are addressed in the present system by providing participantapplications of a session with a list of AuthenticatingSystem-user IDpairs. A parent application (application 200) provides an authenticatingservice identifier and user identifier used by the parent application toauthenticate the user via the authserver and userid properties (items500 and 517 respectively) of the session initiation command of FIG. 5.This information is provided for use by participant applications toidentify the parent application and to identify how the user is known bythe parent application if necessary.

A participant application (parent or child) may also use thebidirectional command and response data of FIG. 7 to inform manager 250of a valid userid and associated authentication database in a useroperation session. Thereby, manager 250 compiles a database for mappinga userid of a participant application to an authenticated and differentuserid of a second application. This enables the second application tobe accessed transparently to a user without the need for a user tore-login. An application (e.g., application 200 of FIG. 2) sends sessionidentifier 700 (FIG. 7), authserver 703 and userid 705 to manager 250.Authserver 703 identifies the user authentication database associatedwith userid 705. Thereby, manager 250 compiles a database mapping useridto authentication service identifier that supports user authenticationby subsequently accessed applications (e.g., application 230). Manager250 responds with command status indicator SMResult 707. SMResult 707indicates command success, failure, not found or time-out in a similarfashion to that previously described in connection with command 237, forexample.

A participant child application uses the bidirectional command andresponse data of FIG. 8 to retrieve a valid userid for this particularchild application and for an associated authentication database from themanager 250. A child application (e.g., application 230 of FIG. 2) sendssession identifier 800 and authserver (authentication serviceidentifier) 803 (FIG. 8) to manager 250. Manager 250 responds toapplication 230 with userid 806 valid for the corresponding Authserver803 used by application 230 and also returns command status indicatorSMResult 809. SMResult 809 indicates command success, failure, not foundor timeout in a similar fashion to that previously described inconnection with command 237, for example. Child application 230 may alsoemploy the authenticating system ID and user ID provided by parentapplication 200 for validation purposes since these properties arestored by manager 250 in its database. Application 230 obtains theappropriate userid 806 to be used with its authentication service(identified by item 803) to enable access to a user without the need fora user to re-login. This involves participant application 230 relying onprevious authentication of the user by parent application 200. In analternative embodiment, application 230 authenticates the user using aseparate authentication process which may be the same or different tothe service employed by application 200.

The data format employed for the authserver identifier 803 isconfigurable within a participant application but ideally conforms to astandard among the participant applications in order to minimizeproliferation of different identifiers for a common user within themanager 250 database mapping.

FIG. 16 is a system protocol diagram indicating the hierarchicalorganization of communication protocol layers used by applications 200and 230 for communication with browser 10 and manager 250 (FIG. 2).Applications 200 and 230 together with browser 10 and manager 250provide access to medical information and related services in a systemincluding a communication platform supporting Internet operation andlocal intra-net operation. The system may also involve other networksincluding Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs) andother dedicated hospital networks or other medical (or other) systemsand communication networks.

An application (e.g., applications 200 and 230) residing in webapplication layer 984 communicates with manager 250 using a UserInterface Interoperability Protocol (UIIP) data format 975 comprisingcommand data structures presented in FIGS. 5–15. The UIIP command andresponse data 975 involves the TCP/IP (Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol) layer 971. Applications 200 and 230 use theUIIP 975 and TCP/IP 971 layers in communicating with manager 250 incommands 222, 224, 226, 233, 237, 247 and 255 as illustrated in FIG. 2.Manager 250 also communicates with applications 200 and 230 using HTTPand TCP/IP protocol as exemplified in command 257 of FIG. 2. Browser 10and applications 200 and 230 communicate using (TCP/IP and) HTTP formatURL data strings processed in accordance with the UIIP as previouslyexplained and indicated on FIG. 2.

The architectures and processes presented in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 16are not exclusive and the data formats of FIG. 5-15 are also adaptableto accommodate different elements and properties. Other architecturesand processes may also be derived in accordance with the principles ofthe invention to accomplish the same objectives. Further, thecommunication processes and steps of FIG. 2 and data formats of FIG.5-15 may be implemented on different platforms for different functionsand may be applied within the applications internal to a processingdevice such as a PC or other processing device or system. Thecommunication processes and data formats may also be applied forInternet or intra-net (or any other network) based work flow or taskimplementation. The inventive principles may be employed in any systeminvolving the concurrent operation of different applications.

1. A system employed by a first application for supporting concurrentoperation of a plurality of network compatible applications, comprising:an entitlement processor for authorizing user access to said firstapplication in response to validation of user identificationinformation; and a communication processor for initiating generation of,a session identifier particular to a user initiated session and for useby a plurality of concurrently operating applications to uniquelyidentify said user initiated session and an encryption key for use bysaid first application in encrypting personal record parameters conveyedin URL data, in response to validation of user identificationinformation wherein said communication processor communicates additionalparameters to a managing application for storage, said additionalparameters including one or more of, (a) an authentication serviceidentifier, (b) a language identifier, (c) a URL to direct a browser toa starting application upon termination of a session, (d) a URL for usein acquiring a web page providing a logon menu to support userinitiation of another session, (e) a URL to be contacted upon apredetermined event and (f) an identification of a type of saidpredetermined event.
 2. A system according to claim 1, including aninput processor for receiving said session identifier and an associatedencryption key from said managing application.
 3. A system according toclaim 2, including an encryption processor for use in encrypting medicaldata associated with a patient medical record.
 4. A system employed by afirst application for supporting concurrent operation of a plurality ofnetwork compatible applications, comprising: an entitlement processorfor authorizing user access to said first application in response tovalidation of user identification information; and a communicationprocessor for initiating generation of, a session identifier particularto a user initiated session and for use by a plurality of concurrentlyoperating applications to uniquely identify said user initiated sessionand an encryption key for use by said first application in encryptingpersonal record parameters conveyed in URL data, said personal recordparameters being associated with a patient medical record and saidencryption key being particular to said user initiated session, inresponse to validation of user identification information.
 5. A systemaccording to claim 4, wherein said encryption key is for common use bysaid plurality of concurrently operating applications in encrypting dataassociated with a personal record in data fields of a URL string.
 6. Asystem employed by a managing application for supporting concurrentoperation of a plurality of network compatible applications, comprising:an input processor for receiving from a first application a sessioninitiation request to initiate generation of a session identifier; asession identifier generator for generating a session identifierparticular to a user initiated session and for use by a plurality ofconcurrently operating applications to uniquely identify said userinitiated session; an encryption key generator for generating anencryption key for use by said first application in encrypting personalrecord parameters conveyed in URL data, said encryption key generatorrandomly generating an encryption key particular to said user initiatedsession, in resnonse to said session initiation request, said encryptionkey being for common use by said plurality of concurrently operatingapplications in encrypting data associated with a personal record; and acommunication processor for, communicating said session identifier tosaid first application and communicating said session identifier toanother application of said plurality of concurrently operatingapplications in response to a request to receive said generated sessionidentifier.
 7. A system employed by a managing application forsupporting concurrent operation of a plurality of network compatibleapplications, comprising: an input processor for receiving from a firstapplication a session initiation request to initiate generation of asession identifier; a session identifier generator for generating asession identifier particular to a user initiated session and for use bya plurality of concurrently operating applications to uniquely identifysaid user initiated session; and a communication processor for,communicating said session identifier to said first application andcommunicating said session identifier to another application of saidplurality of concurrently operating applications in response to arequest to receive said generated session identifier wherein saidcommunication processor includes said generated session identifier indifferent types of command messages communicated to applications of saidplurality of concurrently operating applications.
 8. A system supportingconcurrent operation of a plurality of Internet compatible applications,comprising: a browser application providing a user interface displaypermitting user entry of identification infonnation and commands for aplurality of Internet compatible applications and for providing useridentification information to a first application for validation; and amanaging application for generating, a session identifier particular toa user initiated session and an encryption key for use by said firstapplication in encrypting personal record parameters conveyed in URLdata, in response to receiving a session initiation request from a firstapplication and for communicating said session identifier to said firstapplication, said managing application randomly generating an encryptionkey particular to said user initiated session, said encryption key beingfor common use by said plurality of concurrently operating applicationsin encrypting data associated with a personal record.
 9. A systemaccording to claim 8, wherein said encryption key is also to be used inencrypting and decrypting a session identifier conveyed in URL data. 10.A system supporting concurrent operation of a plurality of Internetcompatible applications, comprising: a browser application providing auser interface display permitting user entry of identificationinformation and commands for a plurality of Internet compatibleapplications and for providing user identification information to afirst application for validation; and a managing application forgenerating, a session identifier particular to a user initiated sessionin response to receiving a session initiation request from a firstapplication and for communicating said session identifier to said firstapplication wherein said managing application includes said generatedsession identifier in different types of command messages communicatedto applications of said plurality of concurrently operatingapplications.
 11. A method employed by a first application operating ina system supporting concurrent operation of a plurality of Internetcompatible applications, said method comprising the activities of:authorizing user access to said first application in response tovalidation of user identification information; initiating generation of,a session identifier particular to a user initiated session and anencryption key for use by said first application in encrypting personalrecord parameters conveyed in URL data, in response to validation ofuser identification information; and communicating parameters to amanaging application for storage, said parameters including one or moreof, (a) an authentication service identifier, (b) a language identifier,(c) a URL to direct a browser to a starting application upon terminationof a session, (d) a URL for use in acquiring a web page providing alogon menu to support user initiation of another session, (e) a URL tobe contacted upon a predetermined event and (f) an identification of atype of said predetermined event.
 12. A method employed by a managingapplication for supporting concurrent operation of a plurality ofnetwork compatible applications, comprising the activities of: receivingfrom a first application a session initiation request to initiategeneration of a session identifier; generating a session identifierparticular to a user initiated session and for use by a plurality ofconcurrently operating applications to uniquely identify said userinitiated session; generating an encryption key for use by said firstapplication in encrypting personal record parameters conveyed in URLdata, said encryption key generator randomly generating an encryptionkey particular to said user initiated session, in response to saidsession initiation request, said encryption key being for common use bysaid plurality of concurrently operating applications in encrypting dataassociated with a personal record; and communicating said sessionidentifier and said encryption key to said first application and toanother application of said plurality of concurrently operatingapplications in response to a request to receive said generated sessionidentifier.
 13. A tangible storage medium incorporating machine readableinstructions for performing the activities of claim
 12. 14. A tangiblestorage medium incorporating machine readable instructions forperforming the activities of claim 11.